• Another honor for Puka Nacua: The NFL’s highest-graded receiver set more single-season PFF records with 30 contested catches.

• Parker Washington thrived despite a smaller frame: Standing at just 5-foot-10, Washington’s 65.5% contested win rate led qualified pass-catchers.

• 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.

Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

Every year during the pre-draft process, evaluators pose the same question when scouting pass-catchers: How well do they fare in contested situations?

Each wide receiver deemed good enough to enter the NFL Draft is capable of running a route, getting open and picking up yards after the catch. So, it isn’t always easy to discern genuinely talented receiving prospects from those who are merely a product of their great offensive scheme. 

The same concept holds true when these players reach the NFL. The league’s top play-callers are capable of scheming anybody open, but that doesn’t reflect the true talent level of their wide receivers. 

Contested catches are one of the areas where you can strip away much of the tactics and game-planning to look at situations which isolate wide receivers from their surrounding circumstances. It’s a simple, binary proposition. You either win (catch the ball), or you don’t.

Sure, having an offensive play-caller who can provide their most physical pass catchers with favorable size matchups certainly helps. It’s also useful when the quarterback throwing the ball has a deep understanding of leverage and ball placement.

But ultimately, the buck stops with the receivers themselves. Those who prove to be major assets in contested situations receive more targets, and they are ultimately the players trusted in need-to-have-it moments.

During the 2024 season, wide receivers held onto the ball exactly 50% of the time in contested situations. While this figure dropped slightly to 47.7% this past year, contested catches continue to live up to their 50-50 label.

The San Francisco 49ers led the NFL in total contested catches this season with 70. On the other end of the spectrum, the Kansas City Chiefs amassed just 26.

With that information in tow, here are the 10 best contested-catch options from 2025.

Our top spot unsurprisingly goes to Puka Nacua. The 24-year-old was truly one-of-one in contested circumstances this season, amassing 30 total contested catches for 510 yards — both of which are PFF single-season records.

Nacua’s 2025 campaign included a trip to Arizona, where five of his seven receptions came in traffic. He caught four apiece on two other occasions and tallied eight contested catches across his three games facing the Seattle Seahawks. 

While Nacua did lead the league in contested targets, this success isn’t just a result of sheer volume. Nacua won the ball on 63.8% of his contested targets, which was the second-highest rate of the top 18 receivers in contested targets. Additionally, four of Nacua’s 12 touchdowns came on contested catches. This number probably would’ve been even higher if the Rams didn’t also have goal-line-fade savant Davante Adams at their disposal.

Nacua’s blinding success in traffic is just another reason why his 2025 season may be the very best PFF has ever documented. It’s ultimately a testament to the quality Nacua exudes in his own right. 

He may be catching passes from one of the best quarterbacks in the league, on routes drawn up by one of the premier offensive coaches in the league. But when Nacua is tasked with winning in his own regard, he does just that. Nacua’s historic 2025 campaign could be referenced for a long time as the standard bearer of great receiving years.

Michael Wilson has an opposite build to Washington, and one much more adept to making plays in congested areas. Wilson used his lengthy 6-foot-2 frame to haul in 22 contested catches this season, tied with Pickens for the second-most in the league.

However, Wilson did so on five fewer targets. Throwing the ball up to Wilson feels much more like a 65-35 chance than a 50-50 proposition. The numbers back that up — Wilson hauled in 64.7% of his contested targets.

While Washington’s win rate was marginally higher, Wilson racked up 50 additional yards on his contested plays. When Wilson was hot, he was simply unguardable. For instance, during his 15-reception game against the 49ers, Wilson nabbed five total catches in traffic.

Washington received just 12 contested targets throughout his two seasons prior to 2025. Then Trevor Lawrence threw him 29 total jump balls this year, unleashing one of the league’s most gifted receivers through contact.

Standing at just 5-foot-10, Washington is the smallest player on this list. His reliance on contested catch success may suggest his 2025 form is unsustainable going forward, but for now, we should appreciate how effective Washington was prevailing over coverage defenders this past season. 

Washington’s 65.5% win rate was the highest of any player to receive 20-plus contested targets. Due to his shorter frame, Washington typically had to climb the ladder to make his contested grabs. Consequently, he mustered just 12 yards after the catch on 19 total receptions in traffic. Fortunately for Washington, four of those receptions came in the end zone for touchdowns.

No list of wide receivers of the 2025 season is complete without this name. The Seahawks unlocked a completely new edition of Smith-Njigba en route to Super Bowl glory. Lining up more prominently as a perimeter wide receiver, Smith-Njigba won 17 of his 31 contested targets for 369 yards. 

His 21.7 yards per contested catch is the highest of any name on this list. Smith-Njigba is also tied for the most contested touchdown catches on this list with four. 

Sam Darnold had a 123.5 passer rating when throwing Smith-Njigba’s way in traffic. That’s the highest of any receiver who amassed 30 or more contested targets.

Pickens is a natural competitor at wide receiver, so it’s no surprise to see him on a list like this one. He finished the season tied for second in total contested catches and second overall in yardage on these plays.

Pickens’ 56.4% win rate doesn’t jump off the screen when compared to others on this list, but it’s a huge improvement from his clips of 32% and 37% over his prior two seasons with the Steelers. 

Moreover, 30% of Pickens’ total targets this season were contested — illustrating Dak Prescott’s confidence in his 6-foot-3 wideout, which is only sure to grow in what’s expected to be their second season together. 

While Brown could be the successor to Hopkins as the league’s resident aggressive ball winner, his raw numbers may not exactly justify this lofty ranking. Brown is the only player on this list to win less than half of his contested catches.

The reason he still finds himself here is because when Brown does win, he wins big. It’s not in Brown’s nature to totally lay out for a ball like other more agile or fluid receivers. Brown often tries to grab passes in traffic while remaining upright.

This is why Brown led the league in yards after the catch on contested receptions this season, while also pacing the NFL in missed tackles forced on these grabs. Brown’s contested catches went for 18 yards on average, and his 94.2 PFF receiving grade in contested situations ranked third behind Hopkins and the man occupying the top spot.

Hopkins is firmly one of the league’s greatest contested catch artists ever. Over the past decade, his 119 contested catches are the second-most of any player — behind only Mike Evans. 

Now firmly in the twilight of his career, Hopkins mustered just 330 receiving yards this past season with the Ravens. However, 191 of them came on contested receptions. 

Hopkins finished the season as PFF’s highest-graded wide receiver on contested targets with a 97.3 receiving grade. Eight of Hopkins’ 11 contested catches went for first downs, while two more were touchdowns. Lamar Jackson had a 142.0 passer rating when throwing to Hopkins in traffic. 

Diggs doesn’t possess the typical frame of a receiver tailored to win through contact. He punched well above his weight in this category during his early career in Minnesota, but struggled toward the end of his time in Buffalo.

Meanwhile, Diggs hauled in 12 contested catches on 16 opportunities this season. His 75% catch rate is the highest of any wide receiver to catch at least 10 passes.

Diggs making plays of his own accord was a steady staple of New England’s regular season-success, but he snagged just one contested grab during the Patriots’ playoff run as Drake Maye’s decision-making became overly cautious for large stretches.

Another tight end who battled injuries this season but was excellent when available, Kittle turned in the best contested catch campaign of his nine-year career in 2025. Of the 43 players to catch at least 10 contested balls this year, Kittle’s 78.6% conversion rate was the highest in the league. 

While Jauan Jennings led the jump-ball-happy 49ers in total contested receptions, Kittle cemented himself as Brock Purdy’s most trustworthy target. Purdy’s passer rating was 149.4 when targeting Kittle in traffic. 

Now left to work his way back from a torn Achilles, the question marks surrounding an older Kittle’s separation skills may be redeemed by his elite physicality to win through contact. 

The first of two tight ends to make our top 10, LaPorta’s season was cut short due to a back injury in Week 10. Still, he deserves to make this list as the only player to receive five or more contested targets this season and come down with the ball every single time.

LaPorta went 7-for-7 in contested situations, boosting his career rate north of 70%. The sample size may not be too large in this instance, but a healthy LaPorta will be quite an asset once again in the Lions’ offense — we haven’t seen a coverage defender get the better of him in over a year.